Japanese uses a subset of the sounds used in English. Therefore if you throw a couple of syllables together it is likely that it will have some meaning, whereas with English it will most likely just be gibberish. This also means that if you get a syllable wrong when pronouncing a Japanese word it is likely that you will say a word with a totally different meaning.
Today I told a teacher that I plan to go to South Korea ({kankoku{) but instead I said that I plan to go to prison ({kangoku{). Another time, when trying to say {goukon{ (Japanese singles party) I said {goukan{ instead which means rape. It would be quite embarrassing if you made this mistake after being asked where you met your current girlfriend. Another student mispronounced the word {jinkou{ in class, which means population. Students of Japanese might be able to guess what he actually said by mistake.
